Lördag eftermiddag. Sitter och tittar på franska öppna. Tråkigt nog så är inga svenska kvar i turneringen. Robin Söderling åkte ut idag med 3-1 i set. Jag som trodde att detta var Söderlings år. Får han bara vara skadefri så är han en toppspelare. Min icke-svenska favoritspelare James Blake är tyvärr också utslagen. Nu sitter alla tv-producenter och hoppas på en final mellan Federer och Nadal. Jag vet inte riktigt vem jag håller på i den eventuella matchen. Det vore ju kul om Federer äntligen fick vinna på Roland Garros men samtidigt är det kul att se hur länge Nadal kan fortsätta sin grusdominans.

Fick höra någonting otroligt störande häromdagen. Coach Anders kommer att befinna sig i Paris nästa vecka under kvartsfinalerna........och ska INTE gå på någon match. Det är ju ofattbart för ett tennisfreak som mig. Kom igen nu coach!!!! Ja, ja jag får väl gå vidare. 

Dagens tips: 

Stand-up comedy. Om man gillar stand-up comedy så finns det ett kanonställe att gå till i west village, Comedy Cellar. Man får se 5-6 olika komiker under c:a 2 timmar. Här började många av dagens mer kända komiker som Ray Romano och Dave Chapelle. Har man tur så kommer några av dessa förbi oannonserade och gör ett "guest appearance". Det är en liten och populär klubb så biljetter måste bokas i förväg på www.comedycellar.com. 10 dollar entreavgift och så måste man beställa 2 saker från menyn, drycker räcker. Detta är ingenting för den känsliga eftersom komikerna är långt, långt ifrån rumsrena. 

Hallå igen. Idag är det fint väder här i Queens. Vi bor i Queens pga av de hutlösa hyrespriserna på manhattan. Man får betala upp till 15.000 kronor för en etta, 20.000 för en tvåa osv. Då tror man naturligtvis att man får en kanonlägenhet med utsikt över hela manhatten men så är det inte. Det kan vara en gammal byggnad med utsikt mot en tegelvägg och med kackerlackor som rumskamrater. Astoria, Queens är därför att bra alternativ. Det är 3 tunnelbanestaioner från midtown manhattan, c:a 10-15 minuter. Mycket billigare men fortfarande nära till allt och trevliga kvarter. Queens har förändrats en del sedan filmen En prins i New York kom ut

Tränade bra igår. Coach Anders skulle vara nöjd med mig (hoppas jag). Intervaller, styrketräning och pilates stod på schemat. Det känns bra att komma i form. 

Så till dagens tips som handlar om shopping på manhattan:

Century 21-ett stort varuhus fullt med märkeskläder och skor. Ligger på östra sidan av ground zero. Bäst att undvika helger och eftermiddagar eftersom det kan bli fullt med folk. Har man mer energi efter det kan man knalla norrut på broadway mot chinatown. Stanna på canal street och fynda solglasögon, klockor, handväskor, parfymer etc. Räkna inte med märkesprodukter, även om loggan är fastsydd på produkten. Vill du shoppa mera så fortsätt norrut på broadway genom SoHo. Här shoppar många av mina kompisar so bor i New York. Finns allt från "underground" butiker till Bloomingdales. 

Det var allt för idag. Ha det! 

Hallå där. Nu var det min tur att blogga lite. Jag har varit i New York sedan mitten av april och ska stanna till början av juli. Orsaken till detta är att min flickvän bor här. Eftersom vi är från olika länder så måste vi flytta fram och tillbaka en del. Det har sina positiva och negativa sidor men mest positiva skulle jag säga. Man får njuta av det bästa båda länderna har att erbjuda.

En sak som är överlägsen i USA är utbudet av sport på tv. Jag har tittat på extremt mycket sport senaste tiden. Det är NBA conference finaler, Stanley Cup final, Sportcenter och dessutom har franska öppna precis börjat. Det går att sitta i princip hela dagarna framför tv:n. Det går dock inte om man ska göra träningsläxan vi fick av Coach Anders. Jag har nog aldrig tränat så här mycket så här tidigt på sommaren men eftersom fysiken var en av våra, och framför allt min, svaghet under säsongen så är det inte mer än rätt. I vanlig amerikansk anda så finns det ju naturligtvis platt-tv överallt i gymmet så det går att följa all sport oavsett man springer på löpband eller kämpar i bänkpressen. Jag tror alla vill komma tillbaka i toppform inför säsongen. Utan att låta negativ så tycker jag faktiskt att vi underpresterade lite förra säsongen. Vet att vi kan bättre. 

Eftersom det här är tredje sommaren jag bor här borta så får jag en del frågor om vad som ska ses och göras under ett besök i stora äpplet. Nu när dollarn är så låg så är det fullt med turister i stan. Man hör och ser svenskar överallt. Majoriteten av frågor handlar om shopping så här kommer veckans första New York tips: 

Woodbury Commons: En outlet village utanför stan. Det går charterbussar från port authority i midtown. Här har alla kända och okända märken en egen affär och det går att fynda rejält. Det kan vara bra att åka hit i början av resan för att sedan shoppa vidare på manhattan. Man behöver en hel dag här eftersom stället är gigantiskt. 

Ha det

Hey Everyone,

We had another tough practice today.  I've been having some trouble with my shoes the past two days.  I noticed after practice yesterday, that around the inside of my shoe it started to tear away from the soul.   I was able to finish practice today with it but I don't think I'll be able to play on it anymore.  It started to spread around the back so I have no support anymore.  I only brought one pair of basketball shoes here so Im a little nervous about being able to find a pair that fits by the time we leave for our games on Friday.  I went to a shoe store where one of my teamates works and they only carry shoes up to a size 13 and I wear a 15.  He was able to order a pair for me but they won't be here for another 5 days or so.  There are a couple other shoe stores in town that I will hit up tomorrow.  Hopefully someone will have something for me to get through the weekend. 

So tomorrow me and one of the American's that plays for the girls team have to go to a school in town to coach some younger kids about basketball.  It's really hard because it's outside and there is only one hoop to shoot at.  The kids ages range from 6-10 so some of them can't even get the ball to the hoop.  It actually isn't that big of a deal because we have other things for them to do that doesn't even involve a hoop but the hard part is that these kids just don't listen.  They are a handfull and you always need to be on your toes.  If your not paying attention they throw the basketballs at your head.  Luckily I haven't been hit yet but a couple of the other players have been hit in the back of the head and another girl got a bloody nose from getting nailed by some kid.  They're lucky we were told we couldn't discipline them because I would have made them run the whole time for doing something like that.  Today was the first day that it has rained here since I've been here.  If it's still raining tomorrow I don't know what were gonna do because this takes place outside.  

Well everyone, this is gonna be my last post.  I just want to say thanks for checking in and seeing whats going on in my world.  I hope you guys are excited as I am about next year.  I really feel that we are gonna have some great success next year with the guys we have coming back.  I know everyone is working hard and I can't wait to see you all out at Borashallen for some great games.  Have a good one and I'll see you soon.

Take Care

Ryan

What's going on everyone??

Tough practice today.  Like I said before we only preactice 3 times a week so we do alot of scrimmaging in order to simulate game situations.  We go for about an hour and a half each session and when I get home Im beat.  And the last thing I want to do is cook dinner when I get home, so I made some award winning spaghetti before I left for practice.  Once I got home I just reheated it and was ready to go.  We practice late each night because some of the guys on the team work and it's the only time we can all get together.  It makes for a long day.  It's about 11:30 now and I just got done eating and am ready for bed.  Im having a hard time getting into a routine here because we don't practice so much.  That was one of the great things about Boras.  Im big on routines and at Boras we usually had the same schedule week in and week out.  If you can't tell, Im anxious to get back there and to start practicing again.  Im having a great time here and we are having alot of success but after the way last year ended, I want to get back together with the guys and really work on being the best team we can be. 

We are getting ready for one of our toughest road trips of the season.  I was talking to my coach and he said he can't recall ever winning both these games back to back as long as he's been here.  And he's been here for over 15 years.  But I think this is the year we could do it.  We've already beat one of the teams before by 40 points.  And the other team has already lost 3 games.  But I guess when you play these guys it's like starting out down 20 because the officiating is so one sided.  And we all know how well I get along with Refs so I need to watch out.  I know Kingma mentioned the long bus trips his team has to make but we're lucky here in Rocky.  We fly to all our long road games and miss out on the 13 hour bus trips.  Even though I really don't like to fly, I think it's alot better than spending that much time on a bus in a cramped seat.  I guess this is the first year we are flying everywhere so I lucked out with that.  The only bad thing about it is we have to wake up a 5 in the morning to make our flight.  Im not a morning person either.  But then again, it's not so bad.  Im just looking for things to complain about.

It's almost midnight now so I need to get some sleep.  Thanks for checking in and I hope you come back tomorrow.  Have a good one.

Take Care

Hey Everyone,

It's a little after 10 O'clock on Monday night here in Rocky.  So that means it's a little after 2 in the afternoon in Boras.  I have the hardest time trying to figure out the time zones where other people I know are.  I don't know how many times I've tried to call my parents or some friends and its the middle of the night for them.  It's usually alot worse the first few weeks, but after that I know the times in which I can call.  I usually use Skype to call back home because it's so cheap and you can also use a web cam so you can see who your talking to.  Which works out great because I have a little niece that is 2 and a half years old, so whenever she is visiting my parents I make sure to talk to her so she knows who I am when I come back home.  It's worked out so far, when I came home from Sweden she knew who I was and everything.  I'd feel terrible if I could never talk to her and she wouldn't remember me when I came back home.  And it's great to see how much she has grown too.  It seems like every time I talk to her she looks a little different.  

One of the things I miss about home is being able to watch sports on TV.  One of the first things I do each morning is get on ESPN.com to check out whats going on in the world of sports.  One of my friends from high school races NASCAR and he had a big race this morning.  So I was following the race online but it's not the same as watching it happen on TV.  He ended up winning the race so that was great to see.  Another one of my friends plays for the Boston Celtics.  Even though he doesn't get much playing time, I still wish I could see his team play in the playoffs.  I think it would be great to see a Boston against LA finals again.  Bring back those heated rivalries from 80's.  Of course I'd be rooting for the Celtics and my friend.  He has played in the Finals twice before but lost both times.  I think he deserves a ring.  3rd times a charm, right?   

We had another day off today and nothing much was going on.  Even though we had a day off, I still went to the weight room to get a lift in.  I got some shots up in the gym as well.  One day off a week is good enough, I don't like being inactive for too long.  I often wonder what will happen when Im done playing basketball.  If I will go to the gym as much as I do now.  Even when I go home after the season, a week off is nice but then I get the itch to get back in the gym.  If I don't, I feel tired and lazy.  I guees I don't have to worry about that now.  I plan on playing until the wheels fall off or I can't get a job, whatever happens first. 

Well, that's all I got for today.  Thanks for checking in and have a good one.

 Take Care

Hey everyone, whats going on?

We had our game last night and it wasn't even close.  We ended up winning by 50 points with the final score being around 120-70.  Im not  sure of the exact score but it was something like that.  But the thing I'll remember most from this game was that I played against the dirtiest player I've ever had to play against.  Before the game my coach and a couple of my teamates were telling me how dirty this player was and how he always tried to throw some cheap shots out there.  I've played against some dirty players before so I kind of brushed what they said off, thinking that I knew what to expect.  Man, was I wrong.  The first play of the game they threw the ball to him on the post while I was guarding him, and he didn't even try and make this shot he took.  He went to go middle, to shoot a jump hook, but all he did was take his left elbow and slam it into my jaw while he was shooting.  Now, I can take a hit, and I didn't want him to know that it hurt so I just kept on playing.  But after the rebound as we were running down the court I thought he broke my jaw.  I couldn't close it all the way but luckily, after a while, it felt a little better.  It was like that all game, he's just a cheap player that was always trying to act like he got fouled.  One time I was trying to post up and he just fell for no reason and the Ref gave him the call.  That was one of the most frustrating things too.  The Refs knew what he was trying to do, he's been playing in this league for about 10 years, and they would give him these calls anyways.  But we did end up winning by 50, and he had a terrible game, so I guess I got the last laugh. 

Another highight about the game was our crowd.  We play in a really small gym that only seats about 800 people but we usually sell out each game.  They get really into it and were relentless with the player I mentioned before.  Everytime he touched the ball they would yell at him and give him a hard time.  They serve alcohol at our games to so I think that helps with how loud it gets in there.  There is a bar connected to the gym and after each game all the players head there to eat and grab a beer or two.  There was a promotion going on, to raise some money for cancer, and they were trying to get all the players to shave their heads.  I came close to doing it, but in the end I couldn't.  The last time I shaved my head was when I was playing in Turkey and it's just been too long since then.  A couple of the guys ended up doing it and another teamated ended up shaving his beard that he's had for two years. 

 We had the day off today and I really haven't been up to much.  I went to the store to do some shoping and made a great steak dinner.  We have a barbecue were I live so Im usually out there every other day doing some grilling.  I've been doing alot of cooking while I've been here.  Im always asking my mom to send me different recipies that I can try out.  But it's about 10 O'clock now so I think Im just gonna watch a movie and get to bed.  Thanks again for checking in.  Have a good one and Ill have more tomorrow.

 Take Care

What's up Everyone,

It's about 2 hours until tip off for tonights game.  The shootaround this morning went well.  We all got some shots up and I spent some extra time at the free throw line afterwards.  It's no secret that I have a hard time at the line so one of my goals for this summer is to improve on my free throw shooting.  Im at the gym everyday getting up at least a 100 free throws in each day.  Its frustrating for me though because during practice I shoot them fine.  But once I get in the game I put so much pressure on myself I get away from how I shoot during training.  I know it's all mental and the more repetition I get in the easier it will be for me.  I have seen some improvements these past few weeks.  So I hope when I get back to Boras, my shot will be where I want it to be. 

The games here are a little different than games in Sweden.  We play 12 minute quarters here instead of 10 and those extra 2 minutes make a big difference.  It's almost like a whole extra quarter.  The game seems so much longer and you can never be satisfied by a big lead.  Longer quarters mean extra time for a team to get hot and make a comeback.  We've had one close game since I've been here where we won by 1 point.  We were down the whole game by double digits but were somehow able to come back and pull out the win.  We didn't take the lead until there was only 5 seconds left in the game.  If we were playing 10 minute quarters there would be no way we could win that game.    Warm ups are alot different as well.  It usually takes me a long time to warm up but because we play right after the girls, we only get 20 minutes.  So for 20 minutes I was really getting after it trying to get loose.  But by the time the 4th quarter came around I was so tired.  I talked to my coach about this and he told me I was warming up too hard.  I told him it takes me a while to warm up but he just laughed and said "Well that's what the first quarter is for."  So now I just lightly warm up and wait for the first quarter to really loosen up.   But with the quarters being longer means there's more time for me to get foul calls.  I've already fouled out of 2 games out of 5.  I don't know what the deal is.  It wasn't until I got to Sweden that I've ever had a problem being in foul trouble.  I hope that by coming back to Boras, being in the league for my 2nd year, the Refs will know how I play and not be so quick to blow the whistle on me.  I guess that's another thing for me to be working on while Im playing here.  Shooting free throws and staying out of foul trouble. 

I gotta get ready to leave for the game now.  I'll let you know tomorrow how it went, and hopefully, I'll have have some good news. 

Take care and have a good one.

Hey Everyone,

So I've got a few emails from people from Boras and all they can talk about is the Pinocchio Statue that was recently put up in town.  I've seen the pictures and the thing is huge, Im sure its even bigger in person.  But I have one question, Why Pinocchio?  Whats the significance?  If anyone has the answer I'd appriciate it.  I'll be sure to check it out once I get back in town, Im sure it's pretty hard to miss.

So It's Friday night at 10 here but Im not sure what time it is in Boras.  I just got back from having dinner at my Coach's house and am getting ready to call it a night.  We have a game tomorrow night so I gotta make sure I get some rest.  We have a shoot around at 8:30 in the morning and Im not a morning person.  Why we have it at 8:30 and not a around 11 is beyond me.  We play after the women's game so our game doesn't start until about 8:30 at night.    Game day's kind of are a waste because after our shootaround you have about 12 hours to kill before the game.  I usually take about a 3 hour nap but there's still 9 hours to figure out what to do with.  I know I could go out and do some exploring in the city but I try to stay off my legs so I have more energy for the game.  When I was in High School we had a game on a Saturday night.  During the day I went to the mall for a couple hours and was walking around everywhere.  Well, that night, we got killed and I had a terrible game.  I had no energy and my legs felt like Jello.  So from then on, I try to stay off my feet as much as I can.

I was watching TV the other day and South Park came on.  If you haven't seen it, it's and American Cartoon but it's made for immature adults.  So, naturally, I love it.  In this particular episode, it showed how the whole town of South Park lost it's internet connection and everything went to hell.  The local news channel got all their information from the internet so they couldn't report the news and everyone was pretty much lost.  Nobody knew what was going on in the world.  I thought that this was hilarious because I could totally relate to it.  I've been here in Australia for about 7 weeks now but for the first six I was just waiting and waiting for the phone company to hook up my internet.  I had no idea what was going on back in the States.  The NBA Playoffs had started but I didn't know what was going on.  I couldn't keep in touch with friends and family back home.  So I got to thinking and it's pretty sad how dependent I am on the internet.  I don't know what people did in my situation 15 years ago.  Especially if you were living in a country where you can't speak their language.  Needless to say, I have the internet now and I am happy.  When it finally got hooked up last week I didn't know what to do first.  But those first few weeks were tough.  It made me apprciate what the internet does for us and I don't take it for granted one bit.     

Well, i better get some sleep in.  Thanks for checking in and Ill have more tomorrow. 

Take Care

Whats up Everyone??

First off I want to apologize to Johan at the Boras Basket Office.  He asked me to Blog for the week and I haven't been able to start it up until now.  But for the next week, I'll be here everyday giving you guys some updates on what's going on down here.  I haven't been up to much since that heartbreaking loss last march.  The next day I was on a flight back home but I wasn't prepared to leave so soon.  I honostly thought we were going to win so I didn't pack in case we lost or anything.  So I was up all night packing and Jonas took me to the airport at 5 in the morning.  That was one of the longest days of my life.  For pretty much the whole trip all I could do was think about that game and reflect on our season.  I don't know if I could say our season was a faliure but It was very, very disapointing.  We didn't reach the goals we set at the begining of the season and that was upseting to me.  Don't get me wrong, I had a great time living in Boras.  Everyone involved with Boras Basket is great, I made alot of new friends, and it was probably the funnest season I've had playing.  But to come up short like that and not reach the playoffs is tough to take.  It left a bad feeling and I think we are all using that as motivation to work hard for next year.  It just goes to show how important each game, even each possesion is.   I was home for about a month visiting friends and family and now Im Australia playing in a league down here.  I know Kingma mentioned that I was down in Australia playing in the same league as he is.  We had a game against each other this past Saturday and got a chance to hang out after the game.  Im happy to say that my team handed out a major beating as we won by about 30 points.  The only thing I was upset about was that I missed King show off his soccer skills as he booted the ball across the court after a bad call.  He got a T for it but he said it was worth it. 

We are currently 5-0 and are looking to go undefeated through league play. Im on a really good team, we have a solid player in each position and a great bench too.  I think we're winning by an average of 30 points a game.  I'd say that the Swedish league is a better league but there are some very talented players here.  We only practice 3 times a week so I have alot of free time here to check things out.  I have a couple friends who are playing in different parts of Australia so Im hoping to get a chance to see them before I head back home.  I haven't really done anything yet, but I have some trips planned later in the summer that Im looking forward to.  Australia is a beautiful country and the people here have been great.  I have to say, the weather here has been alot better than in Boras.  Although I do hear that you guys have been getting some good weather these past few weeks.

Well, I gotta get ready for practice.  Thanks for taking the time to check out whats going down here.  Have a good one and I'll be back tomorrow with more.